Jim Benton: 40 Essential Movies of My Life (and 14 equally essential movies removed to reduce the list to 40)

Categorized by Selection Criteria
for my Cinemanic Son on his 40th Birthday

All release dates courtesy of Wikipedia.

I. From the Mythical Years:
when heroes became my heroes

1. Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955) Davy Crockett and the River Pirates (1956) – At the Alamo and in the neighborhood, I wore his coonskin cap. I read biographies and Disney books, owned the t-shirt, coveted my own personal Ol’ Betsy, could sing all the many verses of his ballad, and owned the 45 rpm version. The sequel belongs alongside the original in this category because it was my devotion to the original that made the occasion out of the latter – remaining at repeated showings (at least 3) on a Saturday until Mom sent flashlight bearing ushers in search of me and my pals at the Palace Theatre downtown.

2. Peter Pan (1953) – I dearly loved Peter and always wanted to be him – to fly, to fight bravely, to rescue those in danger, to be independent and free. Although his paraphernalia was less available than Davy’s, his place in my childhood iconography was on a par with the hero of the Alamo or even on a higher level.

3. Prince Valiant (1954) – Robert Wagner played the title role of this Arthurian tale that had little me wielding sword and shield and fighting evil for years. There was a comic book I owned that was based on the movie, but the fabled comic strips from which the movie was taken were not part of my experience. Either they did not appear in the Star-Telegram or, if they did, they were too sophisticated for me at the time.

4. Lady and the Tramp (1955) – The two love birds became the stars of my cuddly stuffed animal collection, but I was disappointed by some of their hard plastic features and an elastic attachment on Tramp’s back designed for a snap-on leash. Their cuddliness did not measure up to my desire to cuddle them, but it earns them a special place of their own in this list.

5. Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue (1953) – I saw this one serialized on television I think and, possibly, in a theater as well. I was so inspired that I set out to write my first novel The Spanish Rob Roy who would be a similar hero living in Mexico. I called him “Spanish” because “Mexican” was an insult in the world in which I was just learning to write in cursive. Maybe I should have written about Pancho Villa! Liam Neeson’s Rob Roy (1995) was but a shadow of my childhood icon, but it used the scene where a bound and heavily guarded Rob escapes by leaping from a bridge and swimming away with arms bound in dangerous, rocky waters. The same scene was planned for my novel.


II. The Special Occasions:
when the occasion of seeing the movie is bigger than the movie

6. Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Ben-Hur (1959), The Longest Day (1962), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) – In my memory, all of these movies seem to have had premiere runs as big occasions in downtown Dallas theatres with souvenir programs and ushers in tuxedos. They were Beth Ann accompanied occasions, and that gave each one a special panache marked on all four occasions (and the following) by a long-treasured program/booklet memento. I imagine that Beth Ann was a personal friend of David Niven and Cantinflas and that Ben-Hur and The Longest Day represented great movie-making. I still have high regard for the latter, but the others in this group have declined far more than their original occasions.

7. The Alamo (1960) – It was another big Beth Ann occasion with its premiere hooplah and special program memento, and it is John Wayne (and Chill Wills and Fabian for God’s sake!), but this movie is in a very special class. Its Texas iconography, its music, its place in personal and family history make it one of the most important films of my life. I can call it imperialist, elitist, racist, delusional history, but I still want to let the old men tell the story and the legend grow and grow.

8. Rocky (1976) – It was in the winter of 76-77 when Carolyn came home from a Mother-to-Mother training event in St. Louis still energized by the spirit of this movie and eager to share its spirit with the rest of us. For all the wondrous inspiration of the movie itself, it is her enthusiasm that makes Rocky an occasion even more than a movie for me.

9. Animal House (1978) – After a heavily-scheduled, over-filled weekend of training at a retreat center in East Texas, two clergy colleagues and I took our Sunday afternoon off (before plunging back into three more days of the same overcooked agenda) to escape to a nearby town (Was it Corsicana?) and watch Animal House. We laughed ourselves way beyond silly, and – what the hell? – decided to watch it again immediately thereafter. The second time we went way beyond that. It was an unparalleled release! I still love the movie, but not as much as the memory.


III. The Standards:
when filmmaking is at its best, regardless of other factors

10. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) – Whenever I list my best or my favorite films, this is always in the top two or three. I thought (and think) Peter O’Toole’s performance was one for the ages, and I loved Omar Sharif and Alec Guinness and Anthony Quinn with his hooked nose. The David Lean panoramas of the desert, the intense moral ambiguity of the whole situation, the madly passionate intensity of Lawrence, the rich characterizations of many characters, the extraordinary music (I bought the sound track, but, unlike the beloved Alamo soundtrack, this music was inseparable from its visual context)… there is so much I love about this film.

11. Doctor Zhivago (1965) – Repeat David Lean’s amazing panoramas, Omar Sharif’s dark eyes, powerful moral ambiguity, rich characters, music to die for, and add forbidden love and more deeply personal tragedy, and you don’t have Lawrence, but you have another exceptionally beautiful and much beloved movie.

12. The Graduate (1967) – I watched this movie many times (in the days before video) and wrote an analytical paper about it for an English class. I loved Dustin Hoffman’s performance, fell for Katherine Ross in a big way, and, for the first time, really looked closely at the art of moviemaking. Not to mention how much marrying your true love despite all obstacles appealed to me at the time! (I also loved Dustin Hoffman’s performances in Rainman (1988) and Tootsie (1988), but one performance does not a movie make. And that (and the need to condense the list) is the same reason Cool Hand Luke (1967) and Patton (1970) are missing here.)

13. The Godfather (1972) - My favorite evaluative line about this movie is, “It’s the only movie I have ever seen that is as good or better than the book.” I remember the theater in Houston and the powerful quality of the film, especially the work of Brando and Pacino. Great film art, but not the great values I want in my personal bests of the best.

14. The Untouchables (1987) - I think the TV series that I enjoyed watching as a child (featuring Robert Stack and Walter Winchell-read narrative) would probably seem execrable by now, but I think this movie is as good as they get. Sean Connery’s character and voice, his unforgettable lines, and his death scene to die for, and coupled with the nostalgia factor, that’s good enough. But the rest of the cast, especially Kevin Costner and Charles Martin Smith (known in the family as Mark Opgrand), are also great, and there are memorable scenes of suspense that take my breath away just remembering them. Great movie!

15. Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) – David Lean again. I remember knowing (at 9) that this movie won the Best Picture Oscar. I suspect it was a Beth Ann occasion, but we didn’t buy the commemorative program. I know William Holden was the star, but I remember Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins even more. Even stranger than knowing and caring that it won the Oscar, I think I had some appreciation for its, pardon the expression, moral ambiguity back then, too.

IV. The Moral Compass:
when the movie and my morality intersect and interact
and perform entrechats and sleight of foot tricks

16. Platoon (1986) - There is no justification for keeping this movie out of the previous category – its art is nonpareil – except this: no movie has ever struck me as heavy or enduring a moral and emotional blow as this one. It made Vietnam and the experience of my generation there palpable and changed “war is hell” from metaphor to understatement by putting me there. Willem Dafoe is perfect in his portrayal of an astonishing hero betrayed, and the Barber Adagio for Strings will forever be accompanied by his image.

17. Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) – I watched this film on television late at night alone in the living room of our tiny Austin apartment in 1970-71, having no previous knowledge of Cyrano beyond my usual multiple choice name and nose match. I was carried away by the high-minded and beautiful language, by the performance of Jose Ferrer (whom I knew as the Turkish bey in Lawrence of Arabia), and by the absolute romance of it all. I wept loud and long and remember fondly and well. I had no desire to see Gerard Depardieu in the role in 1990, for this is the definitive one.

18. Dead Poets Society (1989) - While I fully understand Steve’s harsh critiquest of this film and its isolating teacher-hero genre, I dearly love this movie. Before Keating, I was Keating. After Keating, I try not to be so obviously Keating as to be accused of copying. In this movie are the reason I teach, the way I teach, the ambiguity I acknowledge, the enemies I oppose, and the darkness I fear. Robin Williams is real and convincing and true, and the boys are endearing, frustrating, maddening, and well-known in classroom and youth group. Robert Sean Leonard’s Neil Perry and his father (Kurtwood Smith says Wiki) are well-played, and I love Ethan Hawke’s Todd and even Pitts played by Sam Waterston’s boy. Like many of my favorite movies, I think of this one in oranges and browns. (Same colors in Good Will Hunting (1997) another Robin Williams role I proudly identify with – wounded healer.)

19. David and Lisa (1962) – This is a short, low-budget, black & white film I saw at a film festival in college. Before Platoon it probably held the title of most emotionally impacting movie of my life. David and Lisa are psychiatric patients at a group home, and this is their love story, overcoming obstacles many of which are within themselves. I haven’t seen it in years, but I don’t think it will have worn into sappiness even in a world worn cynical.

20. Sullivan’s Travels (1941) – This odd moment television discovery almost belongs in the next category along with The Girl in the Café (2005), but it remains here because it is such a surprising political statement from an unexpected place. It stars Joel McCrae as a Hollywood producer who, while trying to do experiential research on the poor for his next film, actually becomes one. The film demonstrates a powerful respect for the oppressed without being high-handed or didactic. I love it. (And get this from Wiki – the film Sullivan begins researching is to be called O Brother, Where Art Thou?)

21. The Girl in the Café (2005) – I caught it at random on HBO, and, like Sullivan’s, it would be quirky if it did not make such a powerful political statement. Also like the previous number, this simple little movie is humorous and utterly unpretentious. A painfully shy and self-effacing British diplomatic functionary meets a working-class girl and takes her with him to the G-8 Summit in Iceland. (Who can spell Rekjaviik (Reykjavik) anyway?) She refuses to quietly accept the reality of ignoring the poor. It’s great stuff!

22. Songcatcher (2000) – This gem defies my categories. The occasion of taking Lisa and Melissa to see it in Kansas City when neither knew much about it is hard to top, but oh! the music! But when teacher Lily explains to Aidan Quinn’s Tom that what outsiders do to the Appalachian natives is "exalt--it means 'to lift up' ” and he counters, "No, it's exploit--it means 'to steal' "– that puts it into this category even without its rich honoring of simple people and the beauty of their land and music or its gentle acceptance of gay women lovers.

V. Quirks:
when maybe it’s just me, but I do love these

23. The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! (1966) and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) – Besides their excessive repetition, these unheralded comedies share Jonathan Winters and Carl Reiner and little else. Except that just thinking about them makes me laugh!

24. The Eddy Duchin Story (1956) and A Song to Remember (1945) - In my mind, Tyrone Power plays Eddy Duchin in the former and Frederick Chopin in the latter. Wiki says the latter is played by Cornel Wilde who is, in my mind, Tyrone Power by another name. Both tragic, melodramatic biopics are listed here because of my own melodramatic bent and, especially, their musical numbers – especially Chopsticks and (I think) Polonaise in A Major respectively.

25. The Crucible (1996) – I have watched this movie more often and more carefully than any other, having taught it repeatedly for several years. Though it is not generally well thought of by critics, I find it to be an amazing source of examples of the subtle unobserved art of filmmaking. I think it is a really fine work, and it’s here thirty years after A Man for All Seasons (1966) that Paul Scofield returns to my screen as a scathingly unbending Judge Danforth.

26. Meatballs (1979) and Stripes (1981) – I know that these are terrible, mindless movies, but Bill Murray is a comic god here. Take your Ghostbusters, Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore, What About Bob?, Groundhog Day, and Broken Flowers. I’ll take these and The Razor’s Edge (1984) (also by Tyrone Power, 1946) and be quirkily happy.

VI. Fools Give You Reasons…:
when sometimes no explanation is really necessary

27. Going My Way (1944)
28. The Great Escape (1963)
29. Silver Streak (1976)
30. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
31. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
32. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
33. The Lord of the Rings (2001, 2002, 2003)
34. North by Northwest (1959)
35. The Sound of Music (1965)
36. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and sequels
37. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
38. The Pink Panther (1964) and sequels with Sellers
39. The Lion King (1994) and Aladdin (1992)
40. The Blues Brothers (1980)

The Equally Essential 14

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937), Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941) - I did not know why these three seemed to belong together, but, removing Fantasia makes them the first three members of Disney animated canon. Bambi (1942) and Cinderella (1950) were the next really big hits, and, though I especially liked Jacques and Gus, Cinderella offered little me much less to ideify, and the mystery of Bambi’s adulthood did not connect with me.

2. Dances with Wolves (1990) – I like Costner the actor, and I think this is a glorious correcting-the-West movie. I like the language usage in contrast to the Tonto-ese “me wantum food eat” and other historic TV-movie abuses of First Americans. Like my David Lean loves, this one has great panoramas. And buffaloes. Graham Greene is always a favorite, and here are values near and dear.

3. Spartacus (1960) – In style and date of release, it seems that this should be an occasion film, but I don’t think it is. The self-sacrificing champion of the oppressed and the “I’m Spartacus” community resonated with me then and still does. Spartacus is among the many models of this life who are not Jesus.

4. The Magnificent Seven (1960) – Similar theme and release date, lesser scale, the iconic hero as willing to die for others with nothing in return. I can’t say I’ve seen Seven Samurai (1954), but I have a sort of guilty fondness for The Dirty Dozen (1967).

5. Becket (1964), A Man for All Seasons (1966), and The Lion in Winter (1968 ) are all pretty much the same movie in my mind. This is, no doubt, due to my minimal grasp of English history and Peter O’Toole’s appearance as Henry II in two of the three. Richard Burton’s Becket I think of as a one-man show by a superb actor (must have been to eclipse my beloved O’Toole!) with some of the same moral import as Paul Scofield’s Thomas More but with Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn’s movie better acted (even more than twice better) with less moral power.

6. Gandhi (1982) leads a turn from personal to political morality as its eponymous subject combines the two in his own life. As with Cyrano, this movie introduced me to someone I should have known more about in a way that made me regret the time I had not known. Ben Kingsley’s performance was extraordinary, but the power of Gandhi’s life would surely have shone through even the most wooden performance. And by the way, director Richard Attenborough is much loved by me as actor in The Great Escape (1963).

7. Reds (1981) - In a similar way, Reds delivered to me a feast of powerful information and insight into the Russian Revolution. I think of Reds as a brilliant and innovative intellectual piece with its interspersed interviews offering challenging juxtapositions that were a bit beyond my reach.

8. Places in the Heart (1984) – While one scene does not a movie make, one scene’s theological insight gives it a place in this category. Without its cast (including Sally Field and Danny Glover w/o Wiki and John Malkovich and Ed Harris with) and its moral stance against the powers that be and for the oppressed and outcast, I might feel compelled to omit it from this forty film fling. As the closing credits are rolling, communion is being served in a tiny church. As the bread and wine are passed we see (without fanfare or surprise) that those who have died during the movie are sitting in the pews with everyone else. That’s solid eucharistic theology if ever I saw it. What a gift!

9. Philadelphia (1993) - Like Platoon put me in Vietnam, Philadelphia put me in a family with AIDS. It was not the same magnitude of emotional impact for me because I had been in this family one way or another before, but this cast and this film delivered strength and beauty and dignity to a tragic life script in ways that are too deep to deny.

10. Saving Private Ryan (1998) – Another great Tom Hanks performance (and Tom Sizemore, too), this is the second D-Day film on my list. While a comparison with The Longest Day makes this film look absolutely great in its reality and subtlety and humanity, the two movies both score on the moral scale in the same way. Like so many of my motion picture heroes and heroines (not Cinderella, but Songcatcher and Places in the Heart!) this is a story of dogged, tenacious courage against all odds.

11. The Wizard of Loneliness (1988) and The Sterile Cuckoo (1969). Even if I did not idolize John Nichols (from whose novels both of these were taken), I think I would really like both of these mostly unnoticed, rather small films. Liza Minelli is the cuckoo.

12. Mary Poppins (1964)

13. The Sting (1973)

14. Star Wars (1977) and one or two sequels